1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to binders for paper material and the like and more specifically to a hardcover binders having removable and interchangeable binding mechanisms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different techniques ranging from paper clips and staples, 3-ring binders, pocket organizers, mechanical binders to a xe2x80x9cperfectxe2x80x9d binding are used to bind and organize printed materials. A myriad of factors will determine which binding is used in a particular application. Typical considerations include cost, ease of use, the ability to stand, label and protect the bound material as well as the ability to bind the materials on-site in a timely manner.
Books are generally bound using the perfect binding method or in the case of high end books, the xe2x80x9csewn and stitchxe2x80x9d method. These approaches provide a stiff binding that can be stood on a bookshelf, a wide rigid spine that can be printed to label the book, and a hardcover that protects the paper. However, perfect or sewn and stitched bindings must be done off-site by a professional book binder, which is very expensive and may take several weeks.
3-ring (including D-ring binders) are a popular means of binding and organizing printed material and commonly comprise a binder hardcover and a 3-ring binding mechanism, with the binding mechanism permanently affixed to the spine on the inside of the hardcover. These binders are desirable because the binding mechanism can be opened and closed during the life of the binder to add or remove printed material. The useful life of a 3-ring type binder typically ends upon failure of the hardcover or the binding mechanism and often times the hardcover will fail or wear out before the binding mechanism or vice versa. With a failure, the binding mechanism cannot be easily removed from hardcover for recycling and often, both will be damaged during the removal process. Further, additional costs are incurred by transporting the 3-ring binder to the location for separating the two. Upon failure of either, the entire 3-ring type binder is disposed of, wasting the operable portions of the binder. If the binding mechanism could be easily removed, the material from the hardcover (PVC or chipboard) could be recycled and the binding mechanism could be recycled.
A 3-ring binder is typically manufactured at one location and shipped to a retail location for sale to the public. Often times a surplus inventory is maintained at the retail location and a supply is kept on the retail sales floor. Inevitably, storage and shelf space are limited and any means of reducing the storage or shelf space needed for a particular product is desirable. During manufacture, the 3-ring binding mechanism is permanently affixed to binder hardcover and the binder is shipped as a complete unit. The binders are folded with an empty binding mechanism and stacked in a box. This manner of shipping is inefficient because of the large amount of empty space within the shipping container and results in shipping large boxes with relatively few binders. The binders are generally stored at the retail location in the same manner, resulting in a waste of inventory storage space and retail shelf space.
Another disadvantage of the 3-ring type binder is that when it is filled with printed material, the rings can unintentionally open when the binder is jarred. For instance, filled 3-ring binders are often carried in briefcases with the spine to the top and the open end to the bottom. If the briefcase is jarred, the force of the printed material on the rings can cause the rings to open and cause the printed material to fall out of the binder.
Another drawback of conventional 3-ring hardcover binders is the inability to interchange the hardcover with different types of binding mechanisms. If a hardcover is dedicated as a 3-ring binder, the 3-ring binding mechanism is affixed to the hardcover, usually by riveting, and cannot be removed and replaced with another type of binding mechanisms such as plastic comb, spiral, double wire, Vellobind or thermal bind.
Binding mechanisms that provide a soft cover are also popular for binding printed material. Large and small businesses generate and bind their own reports, brochures, manuals, etc. on a daily basis that are often generated at fairly low volume. There can be significant time pressure to have the material bound as soon as practicable after it is generated. Book bindings is just too expensive and creates too much of a delay for these types of business documents.
As a result, businesses often resort to other binding mechanisms such as a plastic comb, spiral wire, double wire, VELOBIND(copyright) or thermal bind to bind their business documents. The documents are punched and hand fed to a machine that joins the binding element to the document. The machine, binding elements and labor costs required to bind low volume documents are much less than a book binding methods. Furthermore, these binding methods can be done on-site as soon as the document is generated.
Although extremely popular, these binding mechanisms have a number of drawbacks. A soft cover is generally bound with the printed material and provides little protection for the material and is incapable of standing. These binding mechanisms cannot be integrated with a hardcover binder. Furthermore, the binding mechanism cannot be conveniently labeled using imprinting techniques or the self-loading labeling technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,472.
Binding companies have attempted, largely unsuccessfully, to address some of these drawbacks. One approach is the multi-purpose pocket organizer, in which the hard front cover is provided with a horizontal pocket, spring clip, 3-ring or some other means of holding loose paper and the hard back cover is provided with a single vertical pocket. The mechanical binding""s back cover is formed from a rigid material such as card board and inserted into the vertical pocket so that the mechanically bound document is held against the back cover.
This type of pocket organizer provides the desirable properties of the perfect binding, is relatively inexpensive and easy to use, and provides a binder for both loose leaf and previously mechanically bound material. The primary drawback to the pocket organizer is that the mechanical binding tends to move side-to-side and fall out of the organizer. This problem is annoying enough that businesses rarely if ever publish their documents in this manner, opting for the simpler binding mechanisms with soft covers.
VELOBIND Co., which is owned by General Binding Corporation, developed a hardcover that is sold with a pair of crack and peel inserts that are bound with the soft mechanical binding and permanently adhered to the interior surfaces of the front and back covers. The crack and peel inserts are very expensive and difficult to properly align to the front and back covers. The user has only one chance to align the adhesive inserts correctly. Oftentimes the result is either that the binding is crooked or that it must be discarded at great expense. Once again, because of the expense and the difficulty of this approach, businesses continue to overwhelmingly choose the plain soft mechanical binding for their internally generated documents.
In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a fully interchangeable hardcover binder that can be removably mated with a variety of binding mechanisms such as 3-ring, D-ring, plastic comb, spiral, double wire, Velobind or thermal bind. The removable nature of the binding mechanism allows the hardcover binder to be re-used with various binding mechanisms and allows the binding mechanisms to be mated with different hardcover binders. The invention also provides for efficient shipping and storage and allows the binder hardcover and binding mechanisms to be recycled. The invention also allows binding mechanisms previously bound with printed material having a soft cover to be removably mated with a binding hardcover. The hardcover provides protection and stiffness and allows labeling. Once mated with the hardcover, the previously soft bound material can more easily stored in a bookshelf with the labels on the hardcovers displayed.
The invention provides a binding hardcover, a binding mechanism and a pair of insert pieces (or flaps). The inserts are part of the inventive binder and generally not part of the printed material unless collated or bound with the printed material. The binder hardcover has a pair of interior pockets that are offset from and open towards the cover""s spine. The binding mechanisms come with a pair of inserts that can be bound as part of a binding mechanism or otherwise affixed to the binding mechanism. The inserts can be inserted and fit snugly into the pockets to hold the binding mechanism against the spine and between the cover. The inserts are preferably formed with a tip that makes initial insertion into the pocket easier and taper so that the insert attains a height approximately equal to the height of the pocket to provide the snug fit. The offset of the pockets is preferably wide enough that the inserts do not pinch the binding mechanism when the cover is closed and narrow enough to constrain the side-to-side movement of the binding mechanism when the cover is open, suitably between one and two times the radius of the mechanical binding.
In the case of a 3-ring binder, the binding mechanism can also be affixed to two inserts, the inserts oriented with the tips directed out. Alternatively, the binding mechanism can be affixed to the vertical center line of a single section of insert material having a shape similar to the two inserts laid side by side, with the insert tips opposing. When affixed to the single section, the 3-ring binder mechanism has two opposing flaps that are similar in composition and shape to the insert pairs. The flaps are inserted into the pocket and taper so that the insert attains a height approximately equal to the height of the pocket. The flaps fit snugly into the pockets to hold the 3-ring binding mechanism against the spine and between the cover.
The edge of the pockets will allow slight movement of inserts and binding mechanism if the binder is jarred. This slight movement provides a cushion that helps prevent the printed material forcing the rings open and allowing the printed material to fall out.
The 3-ring binding mechanism can also be used with a hardcover that has full size interior pockets opening toward the hardcover spine and the pocket edge having a tab running the length of the pocket opening. When the 3-ring binding mechanism is installed the inserts will fit snugly in the pockets, with the tabs placed under the binding element. In this embodiment the pocket edges are not visible, giving the binder the appearance of a binder with a permanently affixed binding mechanism.
The invention can also be used with D-ring binders that are commonly mounted on the back panel of the hardcover, not the spine. The back panel has an interior pocket that is offset and opened toward the spine, and the spine has a pocket that is offset and opens toward the back panel. When the inserts (or flaps) are inserted in the pockets, the D-ring binding mechanism is anchored to the back panel, adjacent to the spine.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which: